This blog post was published under the 2015 to 2024 Conservative government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Turkey

9th October 2015

Rolls Royce and Turkey: simply the best

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Which brand at once make you think “quality” and “the best”?

For me and many others it has to be “Rolls Royce”.

So I was delighted to attend on 5 October the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Rolls Royce and Turkish research body TUBITAK, in the presence of the Turkish Minister for Science, Industry and Technology, Mr Fikri Isik and the British Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Maude.

Under the MOU, Rolls Royce will work with TUBITAK and the Turkish Ministries of Science, Energy, Transport and Defence to develop an “Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre” in Turkey.  The aim of such centres, which Rolls Royce already operates in the UK, the US and Singapore, is to bring together production expertise from industry and ideas from universities to create concrete commercial opportunities.

Turkish industry and Rolls Royce will work together on those opportunities, expanding Turkey’s technology base and helping Rolls Royce stay at the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing worldwide.

Result: Rolls Royce will become one of Turkey’s leading technology partners, developing new commercial and manufacturing opportunities in, and for, Turkey.

The planned Centre will also help generate the advanced technical skills Turkey needs to support the aerospace and nuclear sectors, with the  potential to extend beyond this to other industrial segments in the future.  All with the intention that Turkey should play a bigger role in the export of high technology.

Rolls Royce invests around £1.2 billion in R&D annually; operates in more than 50 countries; and applies for some 600 patents on new technologies every year.  It is keen to roll out these skills and assets in Turkey.

All this is good news for Turkey; and good news for Rolls Royce – a huge, sophisticated and dynamic company with its roots and HQ in the UK.  I look forward to seeing this project come to fruition and watching it make a great contribution to both Rolls Royce and high technology industry in Turkey.

Follow Leigh Turner on Twitter at @leighturnerFCO

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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